15 Interesting Bruce Lee Facts

If martial arts legend Bruce Lee was in UFC, everyone on the roster would be lying in the hospital and that is not an exaggeration. Named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century and the founder of Jeet Kune Do, take a look at the 15 interesting Bruce Lee facts:

15. Bruce Lee was Too Fast for Cameras

Starting off with his frequently brought up fact, it is true that Bruce Lee was too fast to be captured on camera. While majority of martial arts movies speed up fight scenes for cinematography purposes, it was not the technique when it came to Lee’s movies.

The martial artist was literally too fast for cameras to accurately record his moves for fight scenes. In order to avoid the possibility of his real moves being referred as fake, the editing department had no choice but to slow down his reordered scenes.

14. Bruce Lee was a Good Sketch Artist

Apart from punching, it turns out that Bruce Lee’s hands could do another thing with absolute brilliance. In his free time, the martial arts legend often spent time to have fun with paper and pencil as he loved sketching.

The sketches of combatants engaged in Kung Fu above are not done by a professional artist but by none other than amateur Lee who drew them solely out of passion.

13. Bruce Lee’s Personal Library had over 2000 Books

From computer technology mogul Bill Gates to critically acclaimed musician David Bowie, if there is one common feature among successful people from any generation it is the love for reading books.

As far as Bruce Lee is concerned, he is often overlooked as a philosopher who had a never-ending hunger for knowledge. Constantly reading and highlighting various sections, Lee absolutely loved to read books to the point of having more than 2000 books in his personal library.

12. Bruce Lee Could Not Swim

You must have heard many Bruce Lee strength facts but here’s an interesting fact about his weakness. If you can swim, congratulations! Not only you can survive drowning but can brag about physically capable of doing one thing that Bruce Lee never could in his lifetime.

“If you want to learn to swim, jump into the water. On dry land, no frame of mind is ever going to help you,”

guides Lee who apparently never followed his own advice as his younger brother Robert and sister Phoebe revealed that he actually hated the water and couldn’t swim.

11. Bruce Lee Was Not Pure Chinese

Born Lee Jun-fan in Chinatown and credited for changing the way how Chinese are portrayed in mainstream American movies, it might be surprising to anyone after learning that Bruce Lee was not pure Chinese.

Because of his grandfather’s German ancestry, Lee was part-Chinese and part-German and unfortunately, his “non-pure” Chinese status prevented his acceptance in most well-known Kung Fu schools until his mentor and trainer Yip Man gave him lessons privately.

10. Bruce Lee Was a Champion Cha Cha Dancer

It is no secret that footwork is one of the most important elements of any martial arts technique so it should not come to surprise that Bruce Lee was an accomplished dancer in his as well.

Though he never pursued it professionally, Lee certainly knew a thing or two about dancing as he won the Cha Cha dancing competition when he was studying in high school.

9. Bruce Lee could Puncture Cans with Fingers

If you have watched Bruce Lee’s movie The Big Boss, you might have noticed that his fingers have bandages in a few scenes. That was because Lee, showing off his strength, cut himself as he burst soft drink cans open with his bare fingers on set.

Back in the days, soda cans were not made of soft aluminum but with thick steel. Even today, bursting a soft aluminum can with bare fingers is a difficult task for any muscular man.

8. Bruce Lee Was a Child Actor

Though he is best known for his martial arts expertise, there were great chances of Bruce Lee’s life taking a totally different turn as an actor. Born to famous Cantonese opera star Lee Hoi-cheun, Lee was introduced to show business at a very young age.

In fact, his first movie role was as a baby carried onto a stage in Golden Gate Girl. While his movies as a lead are only a handful, Lee was one of Hong Kong’s most prominent child actors as he had 20 movies to his name by the time he turned 18.